Review: Charmed Life ST-1.40mm Casein

[Drewski]

I enjoy trying all different types of picks available to us players these days. My journey started with Red Bear and their casein picks. I have had 8 or so for the last decade and have enjoyed most of the different thicknesses and shapes.

Three or four years ago I bought a used Blue Chip TAD-40 and used it in conjunction with the Red Bears. Two or so years ago I noticed that I preferred the sound and feel of the Blue Chip over the Red Bears, and they have been in a bag in a drawer since. I pull them out every so often just to play them again, and my ears keep hearing the same thing. In the last two years, I have bout a couple more TADs in different thicknesses. I am definitely a large triangle player at this point, as anything else feels wrong in my fingers.

I read about Charmed Life here on AGF and visited their site. As a lover of sea turtles, I pulled the trigger on a casein 1.4mm thick cerulean blue sea turtle model. After 3 weeks or so, the pick arrived, and I sat down to play it. I immediately noticed that it was warmer than the red bears. Quieter across the strings and felt nice and sticky in my fingers. Words to describe sounds are hard. But, this pick sounds and feels more like a Blue Chip than a Red Bear which is interesting, since it is the same material as Red Bear and different than Blue Chip. It has become my favorite pick for both my D-18 and Recording King 00 cutaway full koa. My old Yamaha FG-150 still likes the Blue Chips better.

Anyway, just what I feel and hear when I play this pick. I ordered 3 more of their picks this week, so I obviously like them. Have fun!

[raysachs]

I like both casein and vespel and have a number of both from Charmed Life (as well as some of the other thermoplastics Scott has been experimenting with). I also have various casein picks from Red Bear and vespel from Blue Chip. All large triangle. Each different material, thickness, bevel (if any), and the sharpness (or roundness) of the corners affect tone. And each guitar seems to need something different to sound its best to my ears. And sometimes it all varies by how my ears are working on a given day, and sometimes the specific music I’m playing.

I have three different acoustics, rosewood, mahogany, and carbon fiber. The rosewood almost always sounds best with vespel although I’m trying one of Scott’s experimental thermoplastic picks recently and it sounds sublime with my rosewood guitar (but not so much with my other too). My mahogany generally sounds best with vespel. My carbon fiber is naturally a little dark and it takes Scott’s white (or “blonde”) thermoplastic or a Redbear with a really sharp corner to wake it up and sound its best. And it seems to need a heavier gauge too. For picking out lead lines, I always use a heavier gauge casein pick with the sharpest corner I can find, which tends to be a Redbear.

I don’t end up playing the Charmed Life casein picks very much and I don’t know why not - I like em when I do. But maybe it’s as you describe - they sound less unique than Redbear casein and a bit more like vespel. I reach for vespel when I want that somewhat mellower sound and casein when I’m going for brighter and the Redbears give me more of that brightness. Maybe if I had to choose one pick for everything, it would be a Charmed Life casein - it may be the jack of all trades, master of none. But since I have other picks that are a bit more specialized, I tend to grab one of those, depending on the task at hand.

I have no use for speed bevels, maybe because I have no speed to begin with. If anyone hears my fairly rudimentary strumming and picking, you’d likely think I’m a total idiot for being this obsessive about picks and I wouldn’t argue with you. But when I’m sitting and playing my guitars, different picks sound very different to me and each guitar and the material I’m playing leads me to choose the one that sounds best to my ears in the moment. And I actually spend VERY little time deciding what pick to play at a given moment - my gut tells me which ine to grab and it’s usually right. But these are just observations from playing a lot of picks a lot - over time I’ve just naturally come to know what’s gonna sound best to me for a given guitar in a given moment.

-Ray

[Br1ck]

I don't feel Charmed Life Casein picks sound at all like Blue Chips. Just goes to show you how different we are. I hear a pleasing upper mid and treble, prominent but not harsh, frequency CL picks bring out. The problem with CL casein is they keep coming out with different cool colors. I already have one for each instrument and some extras. My Blue Chips are my backup throw them in case pockets spares.

I have yet to figure out what makes their blemish a blemish, so I've bought a few of those. I have both and can't tell which from which. Maybe it's coloration. Functionally they are to me the same.

[slimey]

I thought it was very muted, relegated to a drawer .

[Biosphere]

Blue Chip, Red Bear, Charmed Life, Monster Cables, Ralph Lauren bottled water, iPhones with 64GB of storage in 2022, Beats by Dre, Starbucks, Somogyi or Somogyi apprentice guitars, Calvin Klein underwear.

[Bluemonk]

Originally Posted by Biosphere

Blue Chip, Red Bear, Charmed Life, Monster Cables, Ralph Lauren bottled water, iPhones with 64GB of storage in 2022, Beats by Dre, Starbucks, Somogyi or Somogyi apprentice guitars, Calvin Klein underwear.

Can we agree that the Calvin Klein underwear is worth the extra price?

[nacnac]

Originally Posted by Bluemonk

Can we agree that the Calvin Klein underwear is worth the extra price?

Personally I'd rather buy the Amazon basics and spend the extra $$ on picks but that could be just me

[Charmed Life Picks]

Thanks for your review.

I just wanted to add that Charmed Life Picks has made a decision to create our own 501(c)(3) nonprofit to support our sea turtle conservation efforts, along with other social issues we may want to address down the road.

This is an expensive and arduous task in California, so our actual launch date could be as late as January 2025. However, we've already acquired the domain name CharmedLifeFoundation.org and will have a skeleton website up by the end of next month. We really want to be an industry leader in this area, and hope others will follow.

Thanks Again,
Scott Memmer

[Pickcity]

I’m going to order a couple more as well. The conch shell casein I received is very good. Very crisp when I flat pick, which is something I do a lot, and I like the sound these make, particularly in the mids and higher range. The beveling is nice.

I’m looking at the exact same model. The casein blue sea turtle in 1.4mm. Large triangle. Yep. That looks like a winner.

[lowrider]

Yesterday, I ordered my first CL pick. It's also my first ''boutique pick''. It should be there when I get home later this week.

I'll let you know how it goes.

[Br1ck]

In the price range of the CL, I've quit looking. The CL casein picks are like my Dazzo pickups and SunnAudio pre. When I find something I know works, I'm inclined to stick with it. Would a Red Bear be better? Crap shoot. Hit the buy button on a CL and I know I'm going to be happy.